


Caster of Kemet

by VectorMaximus



Category: Fate/Zero, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Gen, Mix Millennium World's lore with Fate and there you go, Not many Yugioh Characters, Primarily just Millennium World, Trying to reconcile Yugioh Egypt mythology with IRL Egypt mythology hurts my head
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:01:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27375379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VectorMaximus/pseuds/VectorMaximus
Summary: Nearly 5000 years after he sealed away the Shadows, Pharaoh Atem is summoned to compete in another game. A war for a holy, wish granting artifact, but as the Pharaoh would know, not all that is glittering gold is necessarily good...
Comments: 6
Kudos: 16





	1. 5000 Years Ago

Darkness shrouded the land. Where once a vibrant and prosperous land had once stood, ruins now dominated the land, laid low in the terrible battle between light and darkness. Ra’s light had not graced the land for several days, the shadow wrought by Apophis blanketing the land, while demons, foul, corrupted ka and beasts born of shadow streamed forth from Kul Elna. There had the doorway to Darkness been opened, Apophis consuming the thief king Akefia and declaring himself rightful Lord of the World, King of the Shadows, Zorc Necrophades. Even with the might of Kemet and the favor of the Gods, the pharaoh and his high priests were fighting the long defeat.

The treason of Aknadin and his temporary control over High Priest Set had caused massive damage to the morale and cohesion of the Pharaoh’s court. While the Pharaoh was forced to divert himself to the unforeseen enemy within, Zorc had run rampant around the countryside, forcing the scared and traumatized population into the capital. Although Aknadin was finally been cast down, his spirit shackled and damned, his actions had shattered Set’s once unassailable confidence. 

And so, with the darkness encroaching and the end upon them, Horus Incarnate took council with the Gods, and most specifically with Ra, greatest of them and the upholder of Maat, on how this blackest night may be banished. Whatever the cost might be. And so it was, in the heart of Kemet, in the halls of power and wealth with the last of his faithful priests and one loyal childhood friend, the Pharaoh outlined what Ra had bid of him. It was an audacious plan, and one demanding immense sacrifice. Despite the protestations of his diminished court, the pharaoh would not be dissuaded from what he saw as the only path to the survival of his people. And the window to act was swiftly running out, as the sands of time ran through their fingers and Zorc’s power grew every mightier.

What remained of the armies of Kemet was gathered, and the Millenium Items used to summon the mightiest Ka that the high priests and the pharaoh could summon between them. Shimon Muran, the great vizier who had served both him and his father, summoned forth Exodia, the guardian of the palace, who scorched a path through the darkness and laid waste to the armies of Shadow. But Exodia could not stand before a god in black, dread wrath, and so the faithful, grandfatherly Vizier fell before his pharaoh. But his sacrifice had not been for nothing. Exodia’s march had taken them a great ways towards Kul Elna – even Apophis could not move across the world instantaneously. Now the task fell to the Pharoah.

To face a God, one would need a God. And so the Pharoah called upon the three great gods of Egypt, and day at last broke night as Ra descended, as Osiris came forth from the underworld, and Obelisk came forth from the mountains. While the Three grappled with the ascendant shadow of Apophis, the Pharoah and his faithful companions pushed forward to Kul Elna, wherein the Millenium Stone was placed. There was the Stone, and behind it was the Dark to Darkness, from which the foul influence of Zorc emanated. Mankind could not survive a world where the balance between light and dark, life and death, was so corrupted and profaned. Not as it was, anyway – perhaps it would have survived as some new, twisted beast that served only the Dark, but Maat would be destroyed forever, and Apophis at last would swallow Ra and the end would come.

Zorc called forth the Thief King to do battle with the Pharoah one last time, mocking and deriding the young monarch as he spoke through the reanimated corpse. He hissed that this was the natural result of mankind trying to take power beyond what they should have – he was simply putting them in their place. Did not his father commit atrocities in the name of Kemet, when he slaughtered this village? What difference was one tyrant from another, whether they be mortal or not?

The Pharoah was unmoved by these profanities, for he had heard them before and grappled with them in his heart. For had he not seen his father weep and beg forgiveness from the Gods when he discovered the truth behind the Millennium Items? Had he not pleaded that he be punished in place of his son or his nation? And thus he had died, sorrowful but full of grim resolve. And so now would the son follow the footsteps of his father, both paying their lives as the coin of salvation, for a debt incurred by the misdeeds of others.

At last the work was finished; even as the battle raged around them, the great enchantment was laid out as instructed by the Gods, his last two priests bleeding but alive as they struggled to work the great spell. Mahaad, loyal beyond death, stood by his side and held the line at the last, when the Pharaoh at last spoke to the Thief King, and through him to Apophis, the black serpent. He arose, appearing to grow tall and mighty despite his short stature, and power seemed to radiate out from him as he looked at Akefia with a look of deepest hate. 

“Apophis! Such slander you say, when all here know it was YOU who strove to destroy Maat, and to claim dominion over all the world. You made the Millennium Tome and spoke dark whispers to my uncle, leading us as puppet on strings to our current ruin! You spread your insidious influence and corrupted the souls of men, and now you dare to speak of yourself as restoring balance to the world! You have no claim to rightful lordship.”

He took one more deep breath, cradling the Millennium Pendant, which began to glow with a harsh light, enveloping the entire room. “And this I now say: You have gone this far, but no further! I am Pharaoh of Kemet, Horus incarnate, King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Son of Ra, Son of Akhamkanon, the keeper of the balance between mankind and the Gods. Let my name be the one that echoes in your mind for all time, a reminder of your judgement! Be sealed deep! May history forget you, and may you pass into the darkness from which you were spawned. Maat shall be preserved. The dominion of the gods has passed; it has been decreed by Ra himself. On my authority let the seal be wrought, and my soul the offering to the darkness by which it is made! I AM ATEM!”

And with that, a whirlwind was born in the Egyptian desert, as the shadows were pulled back into the door from which they came. And as before a warm northern breeze, Zorc faded, cursing the name of the Pharaoh. And the pharaoh himself stood erect for a moment after the whirlwind subsided, but then he fell atop the tablet from which the shadows had been born. The night was broken. Day had come. But at such price.

And the Name was a seal of adamant, wrought by the sacrifice of a god and reinforced by the blood of his kin, both mortal and immortal. And the Shadows, that power born of when mankind and the gods had intermingled and bound themselves together with acts holy and profane, was shut fast beneath the firmament of creation. Within the Millennium Pendant, the soul of the Pharoah was bound, itself the seal which would keep the gods of Kemet sealed, and the worlds of the mortals and immortal at distance. The Age of Gods in Egypt was over, their diminishment inevitable. Though they would continue to bless the land, never again would they exert their power as once they had, their absolute dominion willingly surrendered to mankind in the name of Maat.  
High Priest Set succeeded his cousin, but he would be the last Pharaoh of the dynasty. For he only ever loved one woman, and she was dead. To Isis was given the task of looking after the Millennium Items and the tombs of the Pharaohs and preserving the memory of what had happened. Long and faithfully did her family keep to this charge. And after Set’s reign, long and golden though it was, passed, the specifics of what happened were lost to time. However, the memory of the Nameless Pharaoh, of how Horus had killed Apophis in a mutual strike would remain and become one of the great legends of Egypt. Through all the years that would come after this, through all the changes and conquests, the memory endured. In Egypt alone a spark of divinity dwelled still, in seven items made of gold and blood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah… Essentially it’s a Yu-gi-oh! & Fate/Zero crossover fic idea I’ve had in my head for a while wherein Atem (Yami Yugi/The Nameless Pharaoh) is the caster of the 4th Holy Grail War, not Bluebeard. Essentially, how he would be summoned would be similarly to Artoria’s case: Atem is not in the Throne of Heroes, but is still in the Millennium Puzzle, his spirit brought forth by the Grail and sustained. He will be manifested as if he is still wearing it, and still have its powers (after all, him and it are bound together now).
> 
> This chapter was essentially my plotting out how Atem’s backstory would work in this case. TLDR: When Atem seals the Shadows away, he also seals away the Age of Gods in Egypt – Rhongomyniad does similarly, sealing the Reverse Side of the World. Similarly to Gilgamesh telling the gods to fuck off in Mesopotamia, this leads to the slow decline of the gods – but unlike Mesopotamia, since the Egyptian Gods generally speaking don’t mess with humans unnecessarily, their power and authority actually lasts a lot longer – essentially, their pursuit of Maat (which roughly equates to cosmic order/balance) means that both Gaia and Alaya are generally speaking not going after the Gods of Egypt. So, if Atem were even to revoke his seal, the Gods of Egypt would see a massive power spike and be able to influence the world again – ofc, this would probably make Gaia/Alaya have panic attacks having them interfere on such a scale again, but if necessary…
> 
> Anyway, no guarantees I ever continue this. If you want to continue it/get inspired by it feel free.


	2. Divine Intervention

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Or, in which Ra interferes and the whole script for the Holy Grail War is tossed but not really.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm shocked I actually had the drive to write a second chapter...

In a place beyond time, a tall man with bronzed skin stood on a balcony, overlooking a serene looking valley. Lush beyond measure, the sun gently shining down upon the land, it was the very picture of an arcadian utopia. But despite the sereneness, golden eyes shadowed beneath blonde hair moved restlessly. The man in question was known by many names, but paramount and most well know of these was Ra, High-King of all the Gods of Egypt. The land he looked down upon was the place the Gods had retreated to as they diminished – their own Garden of Eden on the reverse side of the world. They had erected their great palaces and then set a watch on the world of men before turning their time to new interests. But not he. The sun was still his eye, and mankind his charge. He still kept an ever-vigilant gaze upon earth, to ensure mankind would survive.

And they had not just survived, they had thrived. Even after the damage the other pantheons had caused in their death throes, mankind had moved forward and mastered the world around them. He would not deny a sense of dismay as he felt the balance of the world move ever more in their favor, as they forget the fact that mankind was just one part of the world, as much as any other thing. But still he maintained his watchful guard, for he would not give up hope on mankind – not now, and not ever.

But recently (as the gods count the years), he had been alarmed by a dark power that had briefly arisen in Nippon. The Japanese and Indian pantheons were in a similar state to the Egyptian one – faded but not gone – but this darkness was not of either. It was something much more familiar. It was not the Shadows (which were now much more tamed beneath the influence of the sleeping Atem), but it was something definitely akin to them; something born of suffering, and hate, and a black spite towards the world and mankind in particular.

But that presence had existed for but a short while, defeated brutally in a ritual being conducted by several Magi that involved summoning warriors of the past to fight (he was secretly amused by how similar it was to a shadow duel – even as they advanced some things just didn’t change about humans). However, many years had passed and now that same ritual was now coming again, and this time the force was back – and much more powerful and insidious. Whereas before it had been an incarnate evil, housed in physical flesh that could be maimed and vanquished, now his burning eye saw it as it was. A parasite, waiting for the humans to give it the power it needed to ascend into something greater, and enact its terrible vengeance on the world.

This would not stand. Not if his will had anything to say about it. Diminished he and his kin may be, but they were _not gone_ , and he was Atum-Ra, lord of Heaven and Earth. Alaya and Gaia might forget, but the cosmos had not, and names carried weight and authority. And so, for the first time in almost 3000 years, Ra turned his will to the mortal plane again, intent on fulfilling his designs. He would not allow Maat to be destroyed – too much already had been sacrificed, and he judged no further sacrifice too great. He bent all his power toward the Grail, the artifact that powered the ritual that might yet destroy the world of men. It was a great power onto itself, but it was no God, and its gaze and mind not his equal. Without the Grail even being aware, he implanted into it instructions for what was to come. Mankind would need a champion – no, _he_ needed a champion again. Many had served faithfully in his name, but there was only one he would choose for this, only one who had truly communed and fought beside him. Atem would be his champion once again. And if it gave him some relief from his long slumber inside the Pendant… well, all the better. The boy had earned much more than that. One day he would see it paid to him.

* * *

* * *

In the darkness, he slept. And as he slept, he dreamed. Dreams both beautiful and terrible. He dreamed of a carefree childhood, followed by years of tutelage and training, only to become a King far before he would have ever liked after the death of his father. He remembered his reign, those 8 short years in which he had been forced to wage a war he never expected. Slowly, over the years, the details began to disappear, consumed by the darkness he slept in. But the core of his life, his identity, he defended with the ferocity of a jackal. He would not let them take his most precious memories, of his friends, of his kingdom, of all those that had served and sacrificed for him.

And then, light. Pure, blinding light, one which he could scarcely remember, so long had he dwelled in darkness. And his eyes were assailed by new visions – visions of fire and ruin, of darkness consuming the land, yet suddenly turned back, the flames of ruin turning to fires of purification, burning away the darkness. He saw a golden hall and a green valley, and upon a great throne a man with hair of shining gold spoke to him, but he heard him not.

And then the light diminished, and he stood in a house with smoke and blood in the air. He fell to his knees as the Grail pushed massive amounts of information into his head, outlining where he was, why he had been summoned, and the necessary info in order for him to function in modern society. After a few ragged, short breaths, he stood up. He could instantly feel something was wrong. Closing his eyes, he felt it. While no sorcerer on the level of Mahad (but who could be), Atem was a magician of no small power – and he was furthermore the Pharoah, empowered by the magic of Kemet itself, and a King of Shadows beside.

In the Holy Grail War, there were supposed to be seven servants and seven masters, one of each class: Archer, Lancer, Saber, Rider, Assassin, Caster, and Berserker. But he could feel another servant in this very house, and one which stank of rank darkness… but more importantly, one which also was of the Caster class.

Simultaneously, the Holy Grail itself was having a bit of a short-circuit, trying to understand why there were _two_ Casters, both summoned in the same house. One was bound to the master – a man of no magical talent, but full of twisted sadism and obsession. He had been paired with a servant to match, a dark sorcerer full of depravity and an obsession his own. The other… the other… _why couldn’t it get a read on him?_ It could tell he was a powerful servant, an old one, far more powerful than the other caster. But outside of that it couldn’t tell anything about him, outside of basic info such as his physical dimensions.

Atem was startled by the scream of a child, and he immediately bolted up the stairs, throwing open the door. There was a terrible sight. A ritual sign, drawn in blood surrounded by the corpses of a family, a young child now devoured by dark beasts. _By Ra, they feel almost like they are from the Shadow Realm!_

Standing there was the other servant, and what he assumed was the fiend’s master, who wore a slasher smile even as he turned from praising his servant about how ‘cool’ he was and how this was going to be awesome.

“Huh? Who’re you, bud?” The master snarled at him, his sadistic smile not wavering a bit. “Come to join the fun? We’d be glad to have another player.”

“Ryuunosuke… he is another servant!” The other servant said in a disconcertingly serene and overjoyed voice, a manic look upon his face. “Truly, we are blessed to be able to make such art already. But I suppose certain formalities must be observed.” Here the fish-eyed servant gave a shallow bow with a hand wave. “I am the servant Caster of this Holy Grail War. And who might you be?”

Eyes shadowed by his bangs, something dark settled in the Pharoah’s heart. It was a cry for justice, for vengeance – to cast judgement on these dark and sinful beings. And who had greater right to judge than he.

“Who am I, you ask? I shall tell you then. I am the **true** Caster of this war. And here I must ask you…” A twisted smile grew on his face, eyes filled with a dark fire. His face darkened as the shadows grew long, even as the wadjet on his puzzle and his circlet began to glow with harsh light. All around them, shadows began to envelop the building.

“Would you like to play a game with me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand that’s scene. I got some inspiration to continue this, so here you go. Chapter 2. As a clarification, in my timeline of events, Atem dies/is sealed away when he is 22, not 18, so he has a few more years on the throne, ascending when he is 14 after the death of his father.
> 
> Atem’s stats as a Servant:
> 
> Name: Pharaoh Atem (The Nameless Pharaoh, Yami, Horus)
> 
> Strength: D  
> Endurance: C  
> Agility: C  
> Magical Energy: A+  
> Luck: EX  
> Noble Phantasm: E-EX
> 
> Skills:
> 
> Independent Action EX: Summoned without a Master, Pharaoh Atem is sustained by the Shadows, not by his master’s mana. While a master would allow him to summon more Ka than he can on his own, his ability to operate independently is a massive asset.
> 
> Shadow Magic E-A+: Atem is the strongest wielder of Shadow Magic the world has ever seen, and his time sealed with them has only made his command over them stronger - he is acknowledged as a second 'King of Shadow', a rival claimant to Zorc Necrophades.
> 
> Shadow Walker A: While not able to enter a spiritual form like other servants, Atem is able to utilize the Shadows in order to travel from location to location, though it is much more taxing to try to travel to locations he has not himself been to. In addition, this is not a swift process, making it impractical for combat.
> 
> Magecraft B: While not a great sorcerer, Atem’s magical abilities are nothing to sneeze at. While his strength lies in his shadow magic and his ability to summon Ka, if necessary, he can be a formidable opponent simply due to his own magical ability.
> 
> Charisma A: As Pharaoh, Atem’s rule was marked by the adoration of his people and the ability to inspire them. This has translated into a high level of charisma, though it is a more understated charisma compared with others.
> 
> Noble Phantasms:
> 
> The Millennium Pendant: an EX rank phantasm that enhances the wielder, it has the effect of ‘manifesting the only path to victory’, which makes it so that it is almost impossible for the bearer to lose games of chance, as well as raising the wielder’s luck stat. However, to most people the pendant simply appears a gaudy piece of jewelry.
> 
> The Three Gods of Egypt: A-EX Rank noble phantasm that summons forth the gods of Egypt he fought alongside. The greatest Ka the Pharaoh can call upon, they have few peers in the modern age.
> 
> Shadow Game: E-A rank noble phantasm in which the Pharaoh plays a game with at least one other target. Stakes are determined at the start of the game, often the initiators (Pharaoh’s) choice. Cheating in a shadow game is an automatic disqualification.
> 
> A̶̱͒T̸͜͠͠Ȩ̴͈͓͛̉̉M̴̤͓͒̕,̶͖̱̈́̃ : EX ???


End file.
